A 25 year old north Dublin man who hanged himself in Mountjoy prison on Wednesday has died in hospital without regaining consciousness.
Joseph Brooks, from Harmonstown was found hanging from a door in a toilet at lunchtime on Wednesday.
He was taken to the Mater Hospital where he was placed on a life support machine, but he failed to respond and the machine was turned off at lunchtime yesterday.
Mr Brooks, who was awaiting sentence on larceny charges, was a drug user and minor dealer and had told the prison authorities that he feared for his life as a Dublin drugs trafficker had threatened him over a debt of £6,000.
He was placed in a protection wing in Mountjoy because of the threat, the authorities said. Mr Brooks was also placed in a cell with three other inmates and kept under close observation because there was concern that he might try to commit suicide.
He used a sheet to hang himself from a door in a toilet on Wednesday. He was discovered within 15 minutes, but failed to respond to attempts to resuscitate him.
Last year three men committed suicide in prison despite the implementation of new measures to try to identify suicide risks and to ensure that high risk prisoners were kept under regular observation.
High risk prisoners are kept in special wings where there is near constant contact with prison officers or other prisoners.
However, the prison authorities say that it is almost impossible to stop a prisoner from committing suicide if he or she is really determined.